Much needed water soaks South Australia

Decent rain fell across South Australia, bringing some locations their heaviest rainfall for four years [Al Jazeera]

An intense area of rain has crossed South Australia, bringing relief to the farming community.

By 4pm local time on Monday (06:30 GMT), Adelaide had received 12.6mm of rain. This might not sound like much rain but it is easily the heaviest rainfall this year.

Other parts of the state saw even more significant rain. The coastal town of Ceduna, 800 km to the west of Adelaide, reported 24mm of rain in the 24 hours up until 9am on Monday. This is their heaviest rainfall for over two years.

The town of Clare just to the north of Adelaide, recorded only 10mm of water in the same time period, but this was still their heaviest April rainfall in four years.

This goes to show that the rain doesn’t necessarily have to be torrential in order to be newsworthy.

Australia has long been a land of droughts and flooding rains, with the effects of climate change already being felt in parts of the country.

Southern Australia has noticed a reduction in winter and spring rainfall in the last few decades. This year the rain in the state of South Australia has been more scanty than usual, and the rainfall to date has been approximately half of the long-term average.

The reduction of rain is expected to continue as the world continues to warm and the impact of this decline in rainfall will be magnified by increased temperatures. This means the South Australian farmer’s obsession with rain is not going to end any time soon.